Tungsten Phosphide Microsheets In‐Situ Grown on Carbon Fiber as Counter Electrode Catalyst for Efficient Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

environmental friendliness, mechanical stability, simple preparation process, high efficiency, and the ability to operate at wide angle. [1][2][3] Generally, the DSSC with a sandwich-type structure is mainly composed of photoanode, dye sensitizer, electrolyte, and counter electrode (CE). [4][5][6] At present, the DSSCs with exceeded 14% photoelectric conversion efficiency are considered a favorable choice to the silicon solar cells. [7][8][9] However, the rareness and insufficient stability in I − /I 3 − electrolyte of the platinum (Pt) CE makes the DSSCs unsuitable for large-scale applications. [10,11] To address these challenges, it is very necessary to develop earth-abundant, highly catalytic activity, environment friendly, prefect conductivity, and outstanding electrochemical stability Pt-free CE catalytic materials. Currently, the carbon materials, conductive polymer, transition metal compounds, metal selenides, carbides, sulfides, and so on have attracted wide attentions. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Compared with above-mentioned reported Pt-free CE catalysts, transition metal phosphides are rare-reported but very suitable for the development of Pt-free CE in DSSCs. [22][23][24] Moreover, transition metal phosphides are a kind of important multicomponent metal/ nonmetal catalysts. Their composition usually presented as ternary or quaternary compounds or complexes have been widely used in various electrocatalysis applications such as water decomposition and oxygen reduction reaction derived from their unique advantages of earth-rich, adjustable chemical composition, excellent catalytic activity, low-cost, chemical inertness, and prefect conductivity. [25,26] Particularly, tungsten phosphide (WP) has unique physical and chemical properties including high electron transfer rate, excellent catalytic activity, and good electrocatalysis stability, and shows excellent performance in electrochemical catalytic reaction. Zhang et al. synthesized WP particles by a self-exothermic reduction strategy, which exhibited high catalytic activity and long-lasting stability with a low Tafel slope of 52 mV•dec −1 . [27] Son et al. obtained two morphologies of FeP and FeP 2 nanowires to achieve excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiency in acid-base environments. [28] Pi et al. fabricated WP 2 nanosheets on graphite paper using a pulsed laser deposition technique and in-situ phosphorylation, achieving the most promising efficiency as a HER cathode. [29] On the basis of outstanding performance of WP in electrocatalysis, it is expected to be potential CE candidates in The development of low-cost, green, and pollution-free counter electrode materials with high catalytic activity plays a critical role in improving the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In recent years, transition metal phosphides have been widely used in DSSCs due to their outstanding catalytic activity and stability. Herein, a novel binary phosphide is immobilized on carbon paper (CP) by a two-step strategy. This...

Synergistic NiO/Fe2O3 heterostructure-enhanced electrocatalytic performance in dye-sensitized solar cells

“…Usually, the higher values of J 0 and J lim signify better catalytic properties. 51 The achieved parameters are shown in Table 1. Visibly, the J 0 and J lim values of NiO/Fe 2 O 3 @NC are the highest compared to NiO@NC, Fe 2 O 3 @NC, and Pt CE.…”

Vanadium Doped CoP on a Carbon Paper Composite as a Counter Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Faced with these challenges, scientists have developed a series of new CE catalysts with earth-abundant, perfect catalytic activity and conductivity, green, and outstanding electrochemical stability, such as the carbon materials, transition metal selenides, carbides, phosphide, nitride, and their composites. − Transition metal phosphides (CoP, Ni 2 P, FeP, etc.) as a kind of important multicomponent metal/nonmetal catalyst have been widely used in water decomposition and the oxygen reduction reaction field due to their unique advantages of earth-rich, excellent catalytic activity and conductivity. , In recent years, it has also been found to be suitable for the CE of DSSCs. − Wang et al detailed a simple procedure to grow fully dispersed nickel phosphide nanocrystals with controlled size, phase, and composition on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) that served as the CE for DSSCs.…”